Graduate students Capdevilla and Deatsch among first cohort in Reilly Center's NSF-funded SSR

Two physics graduate students will be part of the first cohort of Notre Dame's Reilly Center NSF-funded Social Responsibilities for Researchers (SSR) program. Rodolfo Capdevilla and Alison Deatsch will each have research projects supported by a mentor. All STEM branches were represented this year--natural sciences, social sciences, and engineering. The SSR program will run again in 2016 and 2017, with the goal of transitioning to a permanent, internally-supported training program.

Rodolfo Capdevilla, a second-year Physics student from Colombia conducting research on Collider Physics and extensions to the Standard Model of Particle Physics. Rodolfo is interested in developing a series of seminars and experimental demonstrations for a general audience to foster an intuitive understanding of Quantum Mechanics. Mr. Capdevilla is advised by Prof. Adam Martin.

Alison Deatsch, a second-year Physics student conducting research on laser spectroscopy with applications to cancer diagnosis and invasive species detection. She would like to learn more about the policy issues and the kinds of groups impacted by both applications. Ms. Deatsch is advised by Prof. Steven Ruggiero.